Back from the Sun, Sand and the Sea.

Yup… I have been back for a week now. A little more tanned, with a few more mosquito bites on my legs (what’s a few “stars” to my galaxy of bites and scars) and an addiction to adventure.

F.Y.I, the diving trip was absolutely fantastic! Saw a lot of fishes (duh…), COOL species such as the Napoleon Wrasse, porcupine fish, nurse sharks, moray eels, puffer fish… I can go on and on. To think of it, since I am such a “suaku” diver, anything with gills and stays underwater will be classified as a cool specie.

And once again, I have made some new discoveries about myself:

1) I still can’t dive for nuts.
Although I do not have a problem descending and equalizing, I definitely have a problem with my breathing, my buoyancy and fining. Guess, I will have to go for more dive trips to improve on my diving skills! But first, I will need to buy some of the personal equipments first. As mentioned by my diving master, “Cannot dive, never mind… but make sure you look good!”

2) I can’t wait to travel again
I have a problem… I am bitten by the travel bug. Antidote: Get out of Singapore at least once a quarter. This is really crucial since Singapore is soooo small. But thankfully, budget airlines in Asia are slowly (but surely!) taking off, which stands for cheaper air travel! Yoohoo!

So… I am planning a backpacking trip to Vietnam in September! I can’t wait!

Check out the nurse shark and the little red fish hiding under the rock! Picture is taken at Dive Site - Temple of the Sea, Perhentian Island. Malaysia.

Scuba!

Last night, I went for a pool session - refresher diving course, in order to brush up my diving skills before hitting the open sea in East Malaysia in the coming long weekend.

Things I have learnt about myself:

1) I am not as thin as I thought.
I borrowed some diving equipments from a close girlfriend of mine, and was trying out her equipments – wetsuit, mask, snorkel and fins. To my horror, I had such a hard time squeezing into her wetsuit that I thought her suit was going to burst. And all along, I though she is more “voluptuous” than me. ARGH…. I am dead wrong. Time to fast till Friday….

2) Diving is more stressful than I could remember.
I have not dived for 5 years ever since I got my license… and that’s a long time for a novice diver like me. So I have completely forgotten how to dive and last night I was running (or should I say splashing) around like a mad monkey. Checking of equipments, blowing of bubbles, getting equalized under water and maintaining of my buoyancy are all tough business! Did someone say diving is relaxing???!!!

3) Fair skin is NOT in vogue

I stuck out like a sore thumb last night. Among all the tanned, toned bikini babes… I looked sickly with my fair skin and sagging tummy. Argh…. Can’t wait to tone up and get a tan!

Yup… other than these discoveries about myself (more like disappointments actually), I had fun last night! I love the feeling of being underwater… I love the silence and of course, I can’t wait to see some fishes/sharks/turtles and try my luck to find Nemo. ;)

Can’t wait to dive in Perhentian this weekend!

Yup... Chio is wearing pink. And yup... I put my rainbow bag on my head. But this is not what you think it is... He is NOT gay!

Am I demanding or what?

Having a issue with my beloved: I am into Salsa but my beloved is not, so for the past 3 months or so, I have been going to my salsa classes alone, salsa bars alone and salsa parties alone.

In the beginning, I was very unhappy with him, in fact, more than unhappy. I was down right PISSED. How could that donkey (I meant my beloved) be so unsupportive of my passion? I have always been crazy about dancing, and this time round, I am very serious about mastering salsa, but he was totally oblivious to my pleas to come down to salsa bars and check out my sexy, groovy moves that I have learnt in class.

Now, I am (in a sense, in a certain pathetic sense) glad of this arrangement, I am pleased with the fact that I have widen my social circle and know many friends with the same passion for salsa. I am delighted with the fact that I can dance with cute guys without any disapproving glares and basically enjoy myself without Mr Grumpy Donkey (I meant my beloved again) buzzing around.

Previously, my salsa friends would asked me “hey, where’s your boyfriend?” and I’m like “Oh… he’s not interested in salsa” and people will then give me this sympathetic glare…. As if they were saying “Awww… the long suffering girlfriend, and the boyfriend does not even love her enough to learn salsa with her”

Yah, shut up. I do not need you to rub salt into my wound…

So, we have argued many times regarding to this matter and it has always boil down to him saying “I do not force you into doing anything you do not like, so why are you doing this to me now?”

Fine. I have been an idiot. No more tagging along to driving ranges to drive myself to boredom with golf. No more tagging along to wine classes and dinners, instead I should really have spent my money on salsa classes. No more mingling with his friends… especially those I have totally no interest in.

He has taken my presence for granted and I will not let that happen again.

Philippines Dried Mangoes… THE BEST!

Have been munching on some dried mangoes, brought to me by my dearest friend, Chio from the Philippines. They are sooooooo good, I can't stop eating. Yummy!

By the way, please do not get confused. My friend, Chio is a guy and he is not “chio”.

Chio (in Singapore context) – means pretty. It’s slang, usually used together with “bu”. So you have “Chiobu”, which means, “pretty girl”.

Chio (in AIESEC context) – he is a really cool trainee, whom I got to know when I was in New York.

Anyway… he visited Singapore for two days and basically we had fun hanging out (or at least I did!) together with another 2 Indonesian trainees.

What I have learnt about Singapore through my non-Singaporean friends:
1) Singapore is indeed f**king hot, how the hell can Singaporeans deal with the heat and humidity?
(We don’t… I seriously don’t think Singapore can function without air-con)

2) Singapore is indeed small, why the hell do Singaporeans need cars?
(I think it’s the heat… we need to sit in cars to blast our air-con. Although public transport is also air-conditioned in Singapore… but nothing beat having your very OWN air-con. That is why we need cars.)

3) Singaporeans lovvvveeee to eat and shop, what the hell do Singaporeans do besides eating and shopping?
(It’s too hot to do anything else in Singapore besides dinning in air-conditioned restaurants or food centers. As for shopping, well… you can’t expect us to just stand around in malls to enjoy the air-con and NOT shop. That’s just impossible.)

So, in conclusion, Singapore is too damn bloody frying hot.

p/s: I like the new ad by coke… a bunch of young people piling up ice (into a little slope) along the beach and “ice-board” down, eventually splashing into the sea. Cool huh?

p.p/s: Has anyone been to the Snow City in Singapore? I need a place to escape from the heat… …

p.p.p/s: Has anyone heard about the Eski Bar in Tanjong Pagar? The bar is supposed to be so cold… you can wear your mink coat, skiing hat and snow boots all at the same time. I need a nightspot to escape from the heat… …

Salsa!

Are you into salsa? No… I am not referring to salsa sauce but Salsa dancing! Yup… you might realize that more and more young people are taking up salsa. Salsa is the IN thing now! Yeah!

Latin dances like Cha Cha, Salsa and Rumba are not longer just for retirees or uncles-aunties who dance in community centers. (Nothing against uncles and aunties though)
Now, you will see really sexy, gorgeous and sensual ladies strutting their salsa moves in salsa bars and men… hrm, nice men dancing around also lah.

I was first introduced to Salsa around 2 years ago when I was in New York. Salsa dancing is pretty big in the States and that many fellow colleagues and trainees were from Latin America, so naturally hopping into salsa clubs and bars was inevitable and that was how I fell in love with Salsa.

Some of you might know that I am very into dancing. Yup… love dancing. Was doing some Hip Hop and funk, did a little of jazz, but unfortunately did not have the time and cash to continue my passion for jazz.

Anyway, back to salsa… due to limited monetary resources (I was just a poor trainee), I did not attend proper salsa classes and thus, did not pick up proper salsa till around 5 months ago.

So ever since last December 04, I attended salsa classes with “ Two Left Feet” – Dance School. The instructors are a bunch of dedicated teachers, who are ever so willing to teach and improve their students’ moves. Not forgetting to mention that the 2 female instructors are so HOT, HOT, HOT and male instructors are simply yummy… …

For some eye candy, as well as to know more about this dance school, check out this link:

http://www.two-leftfeet.com/

Boeing Boeing!

Watched this play last Friday, 22 April 2005 and had quite a good laugh! For those who are unfamiliar, Boeing Boeing is a drama from Wild Rice Production and already had its original run about 2 years ago. So, this was actually its second run and the very last show was on last Saturday.

Plot - About a man who has 3 girlfriends, who are air stewardesses. Miss SIA, Miss Cathay Pacific and Miss JAL, and how he got out this sticky situation when all 3 of them were stuck in Singapore due to technical problems at the airport.

Miss SIA – Typical Singapore Ah Lian. She was so loud and irritating and her singlish was giving me a headache… I hate ah lians. Esp pretty ah lians.

Miss Cathay Pacific – Favourite character in the play! She is so funny (acted by Pam Oei) and her Hong Kong accent was sending me into fits of laughter. The moment she opened her mouth, I started laughing… Just like dat.

Miss JAL – very act cute… (okok… she was very cute though) Sorry, I don’t like girls who ACBC (Act Cute Buay Cute)… even if they are really very cute. But her Japanese accent was indeed very convincing.

All in all, it was an enjoyable play… nothing mind-boggling where one would reflect upon oneself, but something light and hilarious. It was a stress-reliever. Good for a Friday night.

Oh… there was a good joke in the play:

Miss SIA: Do you know what is so great about Singapore?

Robert (This suaku boy from Kuching, Malaysia, friend of Miss SIA’s boyfriend): Hrm… democracy???

Miss SIA (very worked up): Are you trying to be funny???!!!!

Haha. I hope I will not get arrested for posting that joke.

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O yah, another thing: Singapore Art Festival 2005 - The Season of Brilliance.

Ok… this deserves another blog but since I am already writing one… …

Took a look at this year’s programs, as well as the design of the pamphlet, I must say that I am pretty impressed.

Two performances caught my eye:
1) Swan Lake from the Royal Ballet (UK)
2) “Yao Jing” (which means Evil Spirits in Chinese)

Swan Lake – No introduction required. Although I have already watched Swan Lake before in New York, performed by the ABT (American Ballet Theatre). It was marvelous! As expected, everything from costumes, choreography to the props and the backdrop of each scene were super-nice and super-drama-mama. Definitely got my money’s worth. Of course, the buns-of steel AND the beautiful legs of the ballerinas definitely add some punch to the Eye Candy Factor. I can’t say the same for The Royal Ballet, but I believe it should kick-ass!

Yao Jing – This play fuses contemporary theatrical styles with the traditions of FIVE (not one, not two, but FIVE ok!!! Mai Xiao Xiao!) Chinese Opera forms. Storyline: The five infamous beauties spanning 5000 years of the Chinese history, whose tragic fates were intertwined with the destinies of fallen empires. Were the sublime beauties venomous serpents (and thus, Yao Jing) who caused the downfall of empires? Or were they mere tragedies brought about by lust, desire and foolishness?

Sounds damn cool right???!!!

But there’s one catch: All Male Cast. Which means… the 4 Chinese beauties are actually “ah gua”.

Can’t convince my beloved to watch this at all…

“What? You want me to watch 4 men pretending to be the 4 Great Beauties of China? Waste my time only… … …”

Typical man.

Need to jio jio my girlfrens on this liao.

This is the reason why I can't allow my beloved to go Japan with PA. Temptation is everywhere! And men is weak.. ...

Will you allow him to go Japan?

My beloved said that he wana go Japan… and I was like “YEAH! I wana go Japan too!”

Then he said, “I wana go with PA”

PA is his friend, an investment banker based in London, who is earning lots of money and thinks that he is some big f**k. I call him PA because PA = Pompous Ass.

My immediate reaction was “WHAT??!! With him??”

(Alarm goes off in my head)

I told him dryly, “If you go Japan with him, I will go to Spain with the wildest girlfriend I ever have and will definitely have a hell-of-a-time.”

(Don’t ask me why Spain, I don’t even think Spaniards are cute, Italians seem cuter)

Tit-for-tat. So freaking childish right?

But he fell for it. “Huh? Spain… no no no, then why don’t you come along with me to Japan?”

“Nope. Don’t like PA.”

“Ok, we’ll do without him, but you will have to get a cute Jap girl for me and we’ll have a threesome together.”

“Ok, deal. Better than to have you fool around in Japan without me.”

O yah… I forgot to mention that PA is renowned to be this slime-pig, who pays for prostitutes. Not any normal whores ok… they are either models or super models. Cost about 300 – 500 pounds a night.

That’s like 1000 to 1500 Sing Dollars. Rich bastard, I hate him.

Boring life = boring blog

I was just lamenting to another fellow friend-blogger that I am bored at work. This came across as rather surprising because I am still new on my job and there is still tons of stuff for me to read and understand. So, technically, I should NOT be bored.

But I am. Bored.

Don’t wana read anything… just wana waste my time away and wallow in self-pity.

Yup… self pity. I guess everyone wallows in self-pity once in a while and today’s my turn. So, please… indulge me.

I came to realize that I am a boring person. So, with a boring life, how to write anything interesting?

B-o-r-i-n-g. At least at this moment in my life… nothing interesting is really happening in my life but yet, I am not exactly unhappy about that either.

So I guess I am upset that I am not upset about my boring life. Am I confusing anyone here?

That’s what Singapore can do to you. Make you accept that life is about earning money (and spending that money in Singapore-built casinos), get married, have THREE babies, hire a maid (who hopefully will NOT kill you or throw your 3 babies down your HDB flat), work our ass off to prove ourselves to “foreign talents”, pay a hand & a leg for a car AND save 2 million for our retirement, all at the same time.

Woah… so with that, how can life in Singapore be boring?

I must be mistaken.

Maybe… since I am a b-o-r-i-n-g person, Singapore is too exciting for me. I need to live in places like Fiji Islands, where there’s really nothing to do but to dive & snorkel, read a book, laze in the sun, curl my toes in soft, white sand and listen to the waves.

Ahhh… I can’t wait.

Wanderlust

I am getting restless. I can’t sit still. I can’t sleep well… … I feel trapped. I think I need to travel again.

In fact, when ever I hear news from my fellow ex-trainees (from New york or Chicago), I can’t help but to feel envious of their adventures and experience. Some of them have secured positions in London, Vienna and Toronto and will continue their career overseas.

But, here I am, stuck in hot, humid and stifling Singapore…

Many times I have wondered how life would have been if I were posted to London or ideally, Vienna. Will my relationship with my beloved still work out? How will my mum and brothers feel about my constant absence? Will my career advances accordingly?

“Choices are hinges of your destiny” – my friend once mentioned. “Almost everything boils down to choice,” she said.

Does everyone really have a choice? To a certain extend, I agree with her statement. With determination, one can be proactive in life and make choices accordingly. But without luck and opportunities, it will be choosing between one shit hole to another dung pit.

Nonetheless… that will still be a choice…

I guess it's time to plan for a trip at the end of the year. Need to get out of here. At least for a while.

Happy – Are you?

Checked out this new club in Tanjong Pagar called “Happy”. It is a very interesting name since Happy is primarily a gay club. Got it? Happy? As like “gay”?

Anyway, the club is cool… with its svelte interior, sleek sound system, great party music and hot servers (all males, of course!), one can really have a great time grooving and drowning in alcohol with style!

One reminder for the ladies, it IS a gay club… so nobody really gives a hoot about your blinking eyelashes, plunging necklines or pouty lips. Well… except fellow female clubbers a.k.a judgmental fashion police-cum-bitches.

Oh, another interesting thing about the club, its unisex toilets. No big deal…you may think, until a guy pee-ed barely 5 inches from me while I was washing my hands! Too bad… he was not that cute and the toilet was too dark for any decent spying.

And of course, I saw some of the most gorgeous guys on earth (unfortunately, are gays)… woah, those bods… were to-die-for. Sigh…. If only… *wistfully*

All in all, I strongly recommended the club. For the open-minded, of course.

I don’t feel appreciated

Yup… I do NOT feel appreciated. As a friend, as a lover, as a employee, as a fellow colleague, as a daughter… as a human being.

Ok, ok… that is a bit tooooo much. But the truth is, I seriously do not feel appreciated for who I am and what I did.

My boyfriend does not appreciate the fact that I try my utmost best not to splurge on shopping. He complains that I do not dress up enough for him… or that I do not have a good dress sense (I think that MY dress sense IS FINE). So, he claims that he wants to buy clothes/bags for me, which are totally not necessary. I HAVE enough clothes and shoes… (not bags though). But the morale of the story is that: Why can’t he appreciates the fact that I wana save money for him? Why can’t he appreciates the fact that I do not want to spend silly money on pedicures and manicures? Why is he so hung up on physical beauty?

Am I really that unglamorous?

I have never felt uglier.

What is wrong with me…?

I went for an interview yesterday at 7 pm and I totally screwed it up.

Sigh… there goes another opportunity for me.

I was totally not myself during the interview… can’t believe that I did so badly… despite reading up on the technical skills required by this position, despite getting good recommendations from my friend who is currently working in the firm, despite my international working experiences in the States.

I made a total fool of myself and wasted everyone’s time.

Argh… I did not sell myself, as the way I should in an interview. I should have impressed them with the stuffs that I have read and prepared for… but I did not do that.

Worse, I could not even answer a technical question posted to me.

And my interviewers advised me that I need to be aggressive to get this job, implying that I am weak.

I have failed.

No knowledge, no confidence… how to be aggressive when I have no confidence?

I need to go back to school again… to study and gain confidence on my technical knowledge.

Study = Money

I have no money. ;(

Sexy Pictures

After checking out Xiaxue’s blog (http://xiaxue.blogspot.com/) , seems that inserting sexy pictures of yourself is getting very popular.

So in order to join in the crowd, I’ve decided to do the unspeakable:

check out my big, round and succulent … …. …. APPLES in the picture below. 5 apples somemore…

Don’t they look delicious….?

Don’t you just want to give them a bite?

Hmmmmm…. *Groan*… They are so good. Fresh from the trees, cannot get any better than that.

;P

Apples! From the apple trees in an apple farm in Indiana last Fall.

Time to update

Have not been blogging and that is mainly due to my heavy workload of my new job. I guess everyone (“everyone” here means my friends) should have known by now that I am currently working for an U.S MNC. So besides slaving my ass off… I barely have enough time to sleep, exercise and file my U.S taxes. Blogging is on my last priority.

Talking about filing of U.S taxes… and it boils my blood. I did my tax last year and F.Y.I, filing U.S tax is not as simple as Singapore. Firstly, I will have to file 2 forms for the U.S federal tax and after that, one will also file tax against the State(s) you have stayed or earned an income from in that fiscal year. So, this year, I will have to file for 2 State taxes – NY and IL, addition of a filing against Federal. In total, 6 forms to file. 6 LONG forms.

Since I left the U.S last November, I have employed a certified tax consultant, before my departure to file my tax for 2005, and paid 150 USD for her *$^%#%&* service!

She is totally irresponsible. Not only did she not reply to my emails/questions, she made many mistakes in my filing. So, out of desperation, I had to file my own taxes again. Considered that 150 USD down the drain then.

So after a few late nights of reading up and filing of 6 tax forms, I am finally done and have just sent out my tax forms via Fedex this morning.

Moral of the story: Do not trust Americans. Especially those who claim that they can file your tax. They will just suck your blood.

Me, myself and Wenai.

A friend mentioned that I have stopped writing about myself anymore. So, I sat down and thought about that comment he had made.

Nope, I do not agree with him. If one realised, I write about nothing but MYSELF!

My days in the States, my petty problems in life, my weight problem in Singapore, aren’t all these all about me? I even wrote a blog about the damn X’mas tree in my office!

p/s: The tree is gone now. I volunteered to keep the Ugliest X’mas Tree away. I can’t stand having ugly things around me.

Anyway, back to the point, I have decided not to write about myself anymore but focus on more “worldly” issues. For example, the company culture of the MNC which I am working for, and how localise it seems.

But sorry to say, I have no time to write since I have to work. Yup… at 11 pm. *excited*

Chinatown

Took this picture sometime back when I just returned to Singapore around November 2004 and I realised that Singapore’s Chinatown is rather “un-chinatown”. At least in comparison to the Chinatowns in the States.

Just want to share with you guys.

There. MY Chinatown.